Well he is a good drummer but i just hate that people think he is "the best" drummer. when actually there a so many better drummers than him. He isnt all that fast but people who only know famous bands think the drummers are the best and fastest. But i guess we'll just live with it unless someone has some protest signs... but thats probly to much to ask

i agree. he's nowhere close to "the best." i've seen several videos of his drum soloes and they all consist basically of a long drawn out 16th note (not very fast) fill, then he throws in a catchy sounding beat that while sounding catchy isn't hard to come up with at all. its very basic stuff in my opinion. he's more about image than the music.

I'm new here and I don't want to flame anyone. But I have to agree that Travis barker is more about image and looks. i can't stand how he jerks his entire body around while playing some basic 4 on the floor beat. Then he adds a drum track behind him to make it sound more complex. He's a hack in my opinion. And he's an egomaniac based on the way he presents himself in interviews and Television shows ect... I'd love to see him try to play some jazz or Meshuggah.

I agree with Ledzepjb: Travis is a good drummer and definitely has some trained, solid chops. It wouldn't surprise me in the least to learn that he had good teachers growing up.

That said, I do think he is very overrated as a rock/punk drummer, and bands like Blink 182 are a complete joke and not taken seriously by any serious student or fan of punk and hardcore music. I've said this before a couple of times on this forum already, but just go listen to Anthony "Bomer" Manzullo of RKL (Rich Kids on LSD), a massively influential hardcore/rock band from California in the early-to-late 1980s: Bomer's chops are stunning, his timing is incredible, he can do it all. I think people who praise Travis Barker and similar current punk drummers do have reason to do so--they are decent drummers--but I think that such folks also have poor historical knowledge and memory of the punk genre. Drummers like Earl Hudson of Bad Brains, Bomer, Brian Betzger of Boston's Jerry's Kids (early 1980s hardcore band), just to name a few, laid the foundations for super fast hardcore punk drumming, and each of these drummers could easily hold his own with, if not out perform, Travis and company.

So, that's my honest assessment of this issue, as someone who has been listening to and studying punk and hardcore music since the mid 1980s. Yes, Travis is good, but if you know your history, you will realize that he is nothing special at all.

Years ago I used to think he was kinda cool. He was quiet and reserved and had good chops. Back then, he was known as "that quiet guy" from Blink 182. Well, these days he still doesn't say much, but I can't help but think of him as just plain ridiculous. Seeing him doing the "rap remixes" and playing as if he's trying to destroy his drum set just makes me lose any respect for the guy I ever had, which wasn't a whole lot to begin with.

Travis Barker serves, IMO, as a good example of what NOT to look up to if you're a young drummer. Yeah, he's got the look that kids are into, but from a drumming standpoint he's just obnoxious and over-the-top.

You shoudlve maybe read up a lil before posting that last bit. Although i'm not a travis barker fan,quite the opposite, but ive still read up on him and it appears that his first teacher that he had for several years was a jazz player,and that he started off as a jazz drummer. So im sure he can still play that style quite well.

Travis Barker Urban Legend #6
He started his career as a jazz musician, and has a degree in jazz.Fact:Travis Barker played one year in his high school jazz band. He has no practical jazz experience.

Travis Barker Urban Legend #17
He marched for the Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps.Fact:Travis Barker marched sophmore year for his high school marching band. He was going to attempt a tryout for a local corps, but took a small road gig instead before he had the chance.

Travis Barker Urban Legend #4
He is arrogant.Fact:People in the field actually say he's a very nice guy. WFD has had a brief encounters with him several times in the past, and he was always the nicest guy in the room. He sometimes acts out because he lives his life in a public bubble where all his actions are observed and evaluated. How would you react under those circumstances?

Travis Barker Urban Legend #22
He is a publicity hog.Fact:Barker employed one of the most aggressive press corps on Earth. They exaggerate his actions and his past to the point of legend. That's why all these urban legends exist.

Interestingly enough, Jordison also has the services of a press agent, and not surprisingly his year in high school marching band has turned into a full blown DCI career.

You know guys, you can look this stuff up on your own. It's all out there.

Fact is, that Travis Barker is by far the most visited drummer at drummerworld - 15.000 visitors a day, next followers (SG, BR, DC, DW, VC) - less than 8.000.

I wonder how many of these visitors of his thread are FANS. I would be willing to bet most visitors to his thread, like myself, are just shocked that he is even mentioned. It's just sad that there are so many talented drummers out there, discovered and not, that smoke this guy. I just get sick of seeing his face everywhere on magazines, on Reality TV (whatever that means). He's famous because of BLINK 182. I mean GET REAL. He's not worth mentioning on a Drummers forum of this caliber. It's insulting to true artist everywhere. Boo this man. boooooo!!!

I wonder how many of these visitors of his thread are FANS. I would be willing to bet most visitors to his thread, like myself, are just shocked that he is even mentioned. It's just sad that there are so many talented drummers out there, discovered and not, that smoke this guy. I just get sick of seeing his face everywhere on magazines, on Reality TV (whatever that means). He's famous because of BLINK 182. I mean GET REAL. He's not worth mentioning on a Drummers forum of this caliber. It's insulting to true artist everywhere. Boo this man. boooooo!!!

P.S. Berhard, you totally look like Steve Gadd. It's crazy.

Well, see I disagree. You can't fault the guy for having a press corps who deliver for him. Instead of complaining about his exposure, I think the better question that benefits the rest of us is how we can get onboard his well organized publicity machine.

Getting your name out is how you stay in the game. None of that has anything to do with ability, and of course music comes first. But good marketing has to be on the list. I would bet that half of this publicity is stuff Barker doesn't even know about. His name rec is currently on automatic pilot.

I think Travis is a fine drummer, technically he's very good, but he lacks the "feel" I like in my drummers. Hard to explain.

Put it this way, Eddie Van Halen is a masterful guitar player, but I don't enjoy listening to him. I'd rather LISTEN to Carlos Santana, Pat Metheney, Alex Skolnick, etc...because they aren't interested necessarily in Flight-of-the Bumble-Bee on speed, how many notes CAN WE cram into one measure?

travis barker is a personal hero of mine. you all bash him for not being as "technically proficient" as terry bozzio or neil peart, but that's not the point! travis has his style down, and it's his own style! it's his own mixture of jazz influence, hip-hop, and even a little drumline. he has a very solid feel, and he has a groove all his own. his beats make you nod your head, and thats what music is about. if it makes you sing along or tap your foot, its a good beat, no different than neil pearts prog-solos in sub-divided time signatures.

and yeah, he probably isn't amazing at drumline stuff, but thats becase he isn't trying to be!
he focuses on improving his own style. he's not in it for the fame, he's in it because he likes to play the drums! besides, he's got more style and groove than most of you guys.

travis barker is a personal hero of mine. you all bash him for not being as "technically proficient" as terry bozzio or neil peart, but that's not the point! travis has his style down, and it's his own style! it's his own mixture of jazz influence, hip-hop, and even a little drumline. he has a very solid feel, and he has a groove all his own. his beats make you nod your head, and thats what music is about. if it makes you sing along or tap your foot, its a good beat, no different than neil pearts prog-solos in sub-divided time signatures.

and yeah, he probably isn't amazing at drumline stuff, but thats becase he isn't trying to be!
he focuses on improving his own style. he's not in it for the fame, he's in it because he likes to play the drums! besides, he's got more style and groove than most of you guys.

Not saying he is bad but his groove isnt that great or anything. He kinda sounds like a drum machine, everything at 10x Forte.

Mostpitdrummer, im sure that if you listen to almost any music, you will find a drummer with groove just as good if not better than Travis.

But hey, you like who you like and you dont like who you dont like, its all personal choice.

__________________"If they tell you no pain no gain... shoot them." -Jim Chapin

It's amazing what marketing and hype will do for you. Objectively I'd have to say that Barker has some good solid skills overall. There's nothing that he plays that makes me say wow and nothing I've heard makes me bob my head to the beat either. If he'd have let his playing gain it's own publicity rather than all the media minions bestowing supposed greatness on him, I'd have respected him more. As it stands I've seen a ton more drummers with better chops and many many more drummers with more groove and swagger in their groove than Barker. The people who think Travis is a drumming god simply haven't done their homework.

i never understood why everyone hated on travis so much. so some of his songs can easily be learned, and maybe he hits his cymbals hard, and mayyyybe his toms are just a little ;) flat.

who cares - he can obviously buy new cymbals whenever he needs them. and the fact that he CREATED the beats he plays is what matters, and the feel he puts into his drumming. nobody can disagree with that. travis is without a doubt a great drummer, but whether youre a fan or not, he is very overrated. thats just something well have to get used to.

also, i watched an interview with barker where he explained that his JAZZ teacher made him use flat toms to focus on the center of the drum more.

travis barker is overrated, just not as much as Joey. Yeah i know my username is blink44, but im not the biggest barker fan. im a bigger fan of jojo mayer, buddy rich, neil peart, jim chapin, etc. Travis is great cause he contributes the most in the bands he was in, and he influences kids to take up drumming.

check out this video of Travis and then look at some of the comments on the bottom.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnzXTGn3i58
more then one person calls Travis amazing. Why? There is absolutely nothing amazing about what he does in this clip. If they're calling him amazing based on this clip then that tells you quite a bit about how some young people overrate some drummers. I can only guess that his exaggerated movements are impressing them more than then his actual playing in this clip.

I can't stand him for calling himself a punk. I never heard Joe Strummer utter or write a word about Blink 182 when he spoke or wrote about punk bands of the nineties, etc. I just think those guys (and a lot of bands too {Good Charlotte}) never quite got the punk ethos and never will and unfortunately influenced a lot of kids into believing that punk is all about setting fire to poo, belching, showing your butt, and copping an oversexualized attitude about everything . . .
As far Barker's playing goes. He plays all the rudimentary kind of stuff well enough but as a true master: nah.

I would never say that Travis Barker is an "outstanding", or even the "best" drummer, but I guess a lot of people who dislike this "Travis Barker Hype" do underrate him (yes, I said UNDERrate)

I mean, playing the drums is not about some hard licks or a gorgeous technique, it's about playing for the music, giving the listener a certain feeling, expressing emotions.
And unfortunately, a lot of people have forgotten this.

Travis Barker has no superspecial technique, he's also neither the fastest drummer nor the best technician. But he's able to bring the music he plays in the right way, let it sound good. A good example for this is Blink 182. When they had their old drummer Scott Raynor (until dude ranch), they weren't that popular, I mean they were just one punkrockband in a big pot of bands, nothing special. But when Barker joined them and they recorded the LP "Enema of the State", they actually became famous very fast, and from my own experience the reason is that he made it sound special, sound better than the other equal sounding punkrockbands.

Another example are these remixes. Of course every advanced drummer could play the things he plays there, but I guess he doesn't really care about how hard it is, he just cares about how he can make it sound powerful (like in "Crank That"). A damn hard lick would not fit into this context.

Things like his Solo's, or this hard cymbal smashing - This is just entertainment.
I mean, as like you guys already pointed out, he's an entertainer. Of course he could hit the cymbal like a little girl, but doesn't it look cooler to smash them like he wants to destroy them? For a non-drumming audience I guess yes. And that's what it's about. The majority of listeners aren't musicians themselves, they just want to get a good feeling, they want it to sound good. And his solo's always sound good for a non-musician, even if it is not as hard as a Steve Gadd lick (show the solo's to a bunch of non-musicians and they will all say it sounds damn cool)

So that's his intention, to entertain, to make a band like blink sound interesting and good (of course he can't help you if you hate punkrock ;-)

I am not a Travis Barker fan, but I think he deserves respect for what he does

check out this video of Travis and then look at some of the comments on the bottom.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnzXTGn3i58
more then one person calls Travis amazing. Why? There is absolutely nothing amazing about what he does in this clip. If they're calling him amazing based on this clip then that tells you quite a bit about how some young people overrate some drummers. I can only guess that his exaggerated movements are impressing them more than then his actual playing in this clip.

I would never say that Travis Barker is an "outstanding", or even the "best" drummer, but I guess a lot of people who dislike this "Travis Barker Hype" do underrate him (yes, I said UNDERrate)

I mean, playing the drums is not about some hard licks or a gorgeous technique, it's about playing for the music, giving the listener a certain feeling, expressing emotions.
And unfortunately, a lot of people have forgotten this.

Travis Barker has no superspecial technique, he's also neither the fastest drummer nor the best technician. But he's able to bring the music he plays in the right way, let it sound good. A good example for this is Blink 182. When they had their old drummer Scott Raynor (until dude ranch), they weren't that popular, I mean they were just one punkrockband in a big pot of bands, nothing special. But when Barker joined them and they recorded the LP "Enema of the State", they actually became famous very fast, and from my own experience the reason is that he made it sound special, sound better than the other equal sounding punkrockbands.

Another example are these remixes. Of course every advanced drummer could play the things he plays there, but I guess he doesn't really care about how hard it is, he just cares about how he can make it sound powerful (like in "Crank That"). A damn hard lick would not fit into this context.

Things like his Solo's, or this hard cymbal smashing - This is just entertainment.
I mean, as like you guys already pointed out, he's an entertainer. Of course he could hit the cymbal like a little girl, but doesn't it look cooler to smash them like he wants to destroy them? For a non-drumming audience I guess yes. And that's what it's about. The majority of listeners aren't musicians themselves, they just want to get a good feeling, they want it to sound good. And his solo's always sound good for a non-musician, even if it is not as hard as a Steve Gadd lick (show the solo's to a bunch of non-musicians and they will all say it sounds damn cool)

So that's his intention, to entertain, to make a band like blink sound interesting and good (of course he can't help you if you hate punkrock ;-)

I am not a Travis Barker fan, but I think he deserves respect for what he does

This sucks. I just heard the latest on the national news. Critical condition in a burn unit in South Carolina. Apparently the plane crashed on takeoff and skidded off the runway. The news didn't sound good.

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Former Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and a popular disc jockey were critically injured in a Learjet crash in South Carolina that killed four people, authorities said Saturday.

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said the plane carrying six people was departing shortly before midnight Friday when air traffic controllers reporting seeing sparks. The plane went off a runway and crashed on a nearby road, she said.

Hospital spokeswoman Beth Frits said Barker and DJ AM, whose real name is Adam Goldstein, were in critical condition at a burn center in Augusta, Ga., about 75 miles southwest of Columbia.

Two other passengers and two crew members died, said the National Transportation Safety Board. Their identities were not immediately available.

Barker and Goldstein, who perform together under the name TRVSDJ-AM, played a free concert in Columbia's college neighborhood Friday night.

"It's absolutely terrible and tragic," Columbia Mayor Bob Coble said.

A representative for Barker and DJ AM said she had no information the crash.

After Blink 182, Barker went on to form the rock band (+44) — pronounced "plus forty-four." He starred in the MTV reality series "Meet the Barkers" with former Miss USA Shanna Moakler, to whom he was married at the time. The show documented the former couple's lavish wedding and life.

Saw the pictures of the crash site on Fox news on the net. No pretty. The 2 survivors were lucky to be spared the fate of the other 4 on the plane. From the brief description of the condition of Travis and the other fellow it will be touch and go at this point due to some serious burns involved after the crash. Hope both pull through.

Musicians should just stop flying on airplanes from now on. Too many have been lost like this. Anyway, setting aside whatever feelings we may have about Travis, he's a drummer and a damn good one at that. I hope he gets through this and back to doing what he does best.

Musicians should just stop flying on airplanes from now on. Too many have been lost like this. Anyway, setting aside whatever feelings we may have about Travis, he's a drummer and a damn good one at that. I hope he gets through this and back to doing what he does best.

Yeah, same here. God bless

__________________OK, OK It's back to rudiments for me! I'll be back in a few months